Airport Queues

Chat about anything to do with the island of Symi

Airport Queues

Postby AMPY » 05 Aug 2017, 09:54

There's a lot of publicity right now about horrendous queues at some European airports.

Anybody got any first hand feedback about what things are like at Rhodes ?
User avatar
AMPY
Symi Visitor
Symi Visitor
 
Posts: 40
Joined: 28 Aug 2006, 01:00
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Airport Queues

Postby Andy W » 05 Aug 2017, 17:50

Thing is, people are going to have different experiences according to where they are going, with which airline, at what time of day and on what day of the week. There are times and days when the airport is routinely wedged solid with people because of the way TUI and Thomas Cook schedule their flights and transfers. At other times it is almost deserted. People going to Manchester or Moscow have to go through Passport Control. People going to Milan or Munich don't.
Without something to compare to, I don't see how anyone can give a meaningful answer - for example if you need to fly to the UK on a Wednesday evening in August there are always horrendous queues anyway, because the flights are too close together for the capacity of the airport. Very hard to tell if it is worse this year unless you had flown on the equivalent day the year before at the same time.
User avatar
Andy W
Persistent Visitor
Persistent Visitor
 
Posts: 601
Joined: 12 Jun 2006, 01:00
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Airport Queues

Postby SueO » 07 Aug 2017, 05:50

Hi Ampy - I've been wondering the same. I know Andy's right but many people do take a similarly timed flight every year and it would be helpful if regulars could let us know how they found it this year. I know some airports now have a "pre-entry" check where baggage is screened and flight paperwork checked BEFORE entering the airport as well as at check in and this can cause even more chaos. I seem to remember something similar at Rhodes one year resulting in queues outside as well as inside - really hoping it's not been reinstated. That said I guess it would be difficult to monitor with so many access points and the outside cafe area.

When are you travelling Ampy? We're heading out mid September - it would be nice to catch up if you're on Symi then.

SueO
User avatar
SueO
Senior Visitor
Senior Visitor
 
Posts: 162
Joined: 19 Jun 2006, 01:00
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Airport Queues

Postby Allan » 07 Aug 2017, 08:48

I agree SueO it would be nice to get some feedback from current and recent visitors about whether things have changed at Rhodes airport.

From what I gather, reading the UK press, I doubt it's an issue YET. One quote I saw from a European airline spokesman was: "the regulations have not yet been fully implemented across all member states" and I've seen nothing in the press about Greek airports so I'm hoping that the Greek government are taking a pragmatic approach and leaving it as long as possible before introducing the "enhanced immigration checks". They have until October 7th and it would make a lot of sense to delay until the busiest tourist period was over (and a bit more if they can get away with it).

The concern I have with my flights (Easyjet, Liverpool) is that the aircraft used will have already done four trips before our flight to Rhodes and that includes a flight to Barcelona and back. The Rhodes flight has been late 50% of the time so far this year (including our trip in June) and most of those delays have been caused on the trip to Barcelona or the return. Spanish airports have been in the news concerning delays caused by these new regulations so I'm not hopeful that my flight will be on time and that's not the fault of the Greeks!
User avatar
Allan
Administrator
Administrator
 
Posts: 1931
Joined: 04 Jun 2006, 01:00
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Airport Queues

Postby D and E » 07 Aug 2017, 11:23

We travelled Manchester to Rhodes in July on an Olympic chartered ASL flight and clearly these increased checks did not impact Diagoras Airport where the normal passport control on arrival and check-in and security for departure took no longer than normal. In fact it was a lot quicker than the outbound flight which admittedly was at one of Manchester's busy times in the morning that the very knowledgable AndyW mentions.
Diagoras still has the double handling of bags at check-in due to the logistics of the airport and the fact that the bag scanners are on the check-in side rather than behind the scenes. So your bags are weighed and tagged at the check-in desk but then you take your bag to the scanner with your boarding pass and then it is put on the conveyor belt - this was new and a bit confusing to many first-timers to Rhodes who were in our queue.
However when we travelled to the USA in March it took two hours to get through Border Control on arrival at Tampa and that is with many detailed questions being asked through the ESTA process that is required in adavance of travel and auto-recognition machines that seemed to reject at least 75% of the passengers on our BA flight. This may be the shape of things to come post-Brexit and in a world where there is a belief that increased checks lead to increased homeland security - not convinced.
But seen against projected increases in air travel then the authorities are going to have to give thought to how they might streamline things otherwise it could prove expensive for airlines in terms of compensation pay-outs. Inevitably they will try and make some financial gain and so paid for fast track and getting passengers into the expensively alluring airport earlier will all form part of "the plan".
Anyone been through Diagoras more recently ?
Or experienced the kind of knock-on delays that Allan mentions ?
User avatar
D and E
Inveterate Visitor
Inveterate Visitor
 
Posts: 1038
Joined: 15 Jun 2006, 01:00
Location: Wales

Re: Airport Queues

Postby Pollychops » 07 Aug 2017, 17:13

I googled and found this which is fairly recent but looks like normal service.
http://www.airlinequality.com/airport-r ... s-airport/

Hopefully it won't get any worse as we are there on the 30th of this month.
Pollychops
Senior Visitor
Senior Visitor
 
Posts: 196
Joined: 14 May 2012, 01:00
Location: Epping

Re: Airport Queues

Postby Allan » 10 Aug 2017, 19:05

I've just noticed an article in the Sunday paper (I read slowly ;) ) saying that Greece along with Denmark and Austria have decided to put off implementing these regulations until the autumn. A very sensible decision in my opinion.

So it seems that it isn't going to be an issue this year. As for next year and beyond... Who knows?
User avatar
Allan
Administrator
Administrator
 
Posts: 1931
Joined: 04 Jun 2006, 01:00
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Airport Queues

Postby Robert » 06 Sep 2017, 19:55

No problems at Rhodes - but Gatwick ........
Well over an hour getting through passports last night ( Tuesday 5th) - complete shambles!
R
Robert
Super Visitor
Super Visitor
 
Posts: 61
Joined: 25 Jul 2013, 01:00
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Airport Queues

Postby AMPY » 23 Sep 2017, 19:52

(Very much my own) experience from last Wednesday (20th September) -

Few minutes wait for Security. (But nothing major) Passports very quick and efficient.
Big thumbs down to Monarch who didn't open check-in until about two hours before take off by which time the queue was almost snaking outside.
After check-in bags have to be taken to X-Ray scanner - Only one in operation for the entire airport. Another queue almost out the door. Two thumbs down :'(
But all in, Rhodes probably no more grim than previous years.

A

PS Maybe I was lucky but Gatwick was superb both going and coming back. Those automated scans really do seem to work.
User avatar
AMPY
Symi Visitor
Symi Visitor
 
Posts: 40
Joined: 28 Aug 2006, 01:00
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Airport Queues

Postby Kojak » 05 Oct 2017, 11:19

Security checks at Rhodes were very quick with no queues. Manchester was also ok with more of the automatic passport checks. It wasn't very clear which way to place the passport to be scanned (maybe due to my age), but after removing hat, glasses , false teeth and limbs it went well. Luggage took some time to come through but I was delighted to see my suitcase come through early on the carousel..
User avatar
Kojak
Inveterate Visitor
Inveterate Visitor
 
Posts: 3103
Joined: 12 Oct 2006, 01:00
Location: United Kingdom


Return to Symi Chat



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests